Scoop for animal waste

ABSTRACT

A scoop for the waste of an animal, such as a dog, which permits the dog owner to scoop the solid waste matter into a plastic bag without dirtying his hands or the scoop. The scoop is adapted to be loaded with a plastic bag in such a manner that, upon removal of the plastic bag, the exterior surfaces of the bag are clean and all surfaces of the bag that could come in contact with the solid waste matter are internal surfaces. The bag carrying the solid waste matter can be closed with a twist tie and deposited in a waste receptacle leaving a completely clean scoop ready for subsequent use.

United States Patent Lemler [54] SCOOP FOR ANIMAL WASTE [72] Inventor: Seymour A. Lemler, 29 East 9th Street, New York, NY. 10013 [22] Filed: Sept. 16, 1971 211 Appl.No.: 181,167

[52] US. Cl ..119/1, 294/19 [51] Int. Cl. ..A01k 29/00 [58] Field of Search ..119/1;294/19,1

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,286,826 11/1966 Stoll ..119/1 3,252,214 9/1962 Johnson ..119/1 [451 Nov. 21, 1972 Primary Examiner-Aldrich F. Medbery Attorney-Alex Friedman et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A scoop for the waste of an animal, such as a dog, which permits the dog owner to scoop the solid waste matter into a plastic bag without dirtying his hands or the scoop. The scoop is adapted to be loaded with a plastic bag in such a manner that, upon removal of the plastic bag, the exterior surfaces of the bag are clean and all surfaces of the bag that could come in contact with the solid waste matter are internal surfaces, The bag carrying the solid waste matter can be closed with a twist tie and deposited in a waste receptacle leaving a completely clean scoop ready for subsequent use.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures scoop ron ANIMAL WASTE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the cities, it is most common for owners of domestic animals, and especially dogs, to curb their dogs so that solid waste matter is deposited at the curb. While such practice minimizes the inconvenience to others, animal waste is unsightly and odorous. At a time when great effort is being directed toward cleaning up the cities, there has been some discussion of requiring dog owners to clean up after their dogs.

Any such requirement obviously presents practical problems and countervailing interests requires that, if a dog owner is required to clean up after his dog, suitable means be provided for permitting this to be accomplished in a clean and acceptable manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a scoop is provided which is continuously reusable and is not dirtied during use. The scoop is adapted to be loaded with a plastic bag of usual construction having an open end and an oppositely disposed closed end. The closed end is held firmly in the scoop at the rear part thereof and the open end extends outwardly of the scoop and is folded about the scoop so that, during use, all interior and exterior parts of the scoop are protected by that portion of the plastic bag that will become the interior surface of the plastic bag when the bag is removed and tied. With the bag in position, its throat may be opened wide so that the user may scoop the solid waste material into the bag. A disposable device, such as a plastic spoon, may be provided for aiding in scooping the solid waste into the plastic bag and the device may be dropped into the bag and discarded with the bag.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a scoop for animal waste which will permit the animal waste to be cleaned up and deposited in a closed bag without dirtying the hands of the user and without dirtying the scoop device.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved scoop for animal waste which is wholly protected from the waste material during use.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved scoop which releasably holds a bag in position for use.

A further object of the invention is to provide a scoop in combination with a plastic bag wherein waste material may be scooped into the bag and the bag may be closed and tied without contaminating exterior surfaces of the bag and without dirtying the hands of the user.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a scoop constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the instant invention showing a plastic bag in position to be loaded on the scoop;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the scoop of FIG 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational, sectional view of the scoop during operation thereof;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a side elevational, sectional view of the scoop with the bag being removed therefrom.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a scoop indicated generally at 1 1 has a trough like base 13 and a cover 14. The scoop 11 is designed to be loaded with a plastic bag 12 between the base 13 and cover 14. The bag is of usual construction and has an open end 15 and a closed rear end 16. Rear end 16 is adapted to be loaded into the scoop as shown in FIG. 1 and held therein in a manner to be hereafter described.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 4, base 13 includes a bottom wall 17, an upwardly sloping rear wall 18 and side walls 19 to define a scoop of common configuration. At the upper terminus of rear wall 18 is a ledge 21. Cover 14 includes a scoop closing panel 22 and a plate 23 in overlying relationship with ledge 21. Panel 22 overlies the open scoop and extends beyond side walls 19 for a purpose to be hereafter described.

A clamp 24 is comprised of a pair of handle members 25 pivoted on a pin 26 and spring biased by means of a spring 27. One of the handles 25 is secured to ledge 21 by means of a screw 28 and the other of the handles 25 is secured to plate 23 by means of a screw 29. With the foregoing construction, spring 27 biases plate 23 into engagement with ledge 21. Clamp 24 acts as a handle for holding and manipulating the scoop and, by squeezing together the handle members 25 as shown in FIG. 1, plate 23 may be separated from ledge 21 to receive the closed rear end 16 of bag 12 or to release same.

As best seen in FIG. 3, closed rear end 16 of the bag is in position between plate 23 and ledge 21 and is tightly held therein as a result of the biasing action of spring 27.

A pair of spring hinges 31 are mounted to plate 23 and panel 22 to thereby pivot the panel on the plate and also bias the panel 22 to the closed position with respect to the scoop defined by base 13. A rod 32 is pivoted in side walls 19 and an arm 33 is mounted fast on rod 32 at each end thereof outwardly of side walls 19. An operating lever 34 is secured to rod 32 and extends through an aperture 35 in rear wall 18. Operating lever 34 is located at a position below clamp 24 so that it may be manipulated by the hand which holds and manipulates the scoop through clamp 24.

Plastic bag 12 is quite long as compared with the length of the scoop and is loaded in the scoop in the manner best seen in FIG. 3. As heretofore described, closed rear end 16 of the bag is clamped between plate 23 and ledge 21. The bag extends outwardly beyond side walls 19 and beyond the front terminus of bottom wall 17 and panel 22 whereupon the bag is folded rearwardly over the external surfaces of side walls 19, bottom wall 17 and panel 22 in the manner shown in FIG.

3. With the bag loaded as shown in FIG. 3, the portions of the scoop that might become dirtied during use are protected by the bag and it should also be noted that all exposed surfaces of the bag are the internal surfaces thereof when the bag is in normal position. The normal or closed position of the scoop is represented by the phantom line showing of panel 22 in FIG. 3. When it is desired to use the scoop, it is held in the operators hand through clamp 24 and the operators fingers rotate operating lever 34 to thereby rotate arms 33 and raise panel 22 to the full line showing in FIG. 3. The opening of the scoop also opens the bag so that solid waste matter 36 can be scooped into the scoop and the bag lining it. By releasing operating lever 34, panel 22 closes under the biasing of spring hinges 31 and it should be noted that any surfaces that can be contacted and dirtied by solid waste matter 36 will come into contact with the internal surface of bag 12.

After the bag has been used, it is removed from the scoop in the manner shown in FIG. 5. The bag is stripped from its covering position about panel 22, bottom wall 17 and side walls 19 whereupon the handle members 25 of clamp 24 are squeezed together to thereby separate plate 23 and ledge 21 effecting a release of closed rear end 16 of the bag. The bag is then gathered together and a twist tie (not shown) may be twisted about the bag to seal it closed prior to depositing the bag in a waste receptacle. It should be noted that the exterior surfaces of the bag may be handled without dirtying the hands as the exterior surfaces were protected against being dirtied during operation of the scoop. Also, the scoop is immediately ready for storage or reuse as the scoop was also protected against being dirtied by the solid waste matter during use thereof.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above article without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all state ments of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

1. A scoop for animal waste comprising trough defining means having a front end and a rear end, clamping means carried by said trough defining means at said rear end, and a disposable bag having an open end and a closed opposite end, said bag opposite end being releasably held by said clamping means, said bag being received in said trough defining means and of a length substantially longer than the length of the trough defining means between said front and rear ends thereof and extending forwardly from said clamping means to said front end of said trough defining means and to be folded rearwardly about said trough defining means for covering normally exposed surfaces thereof during use of said scoop and exposing only the interior surfaces of said bag to the animal waste.

2. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said trough defining means includes a generally scoop-like member having a bottom wall, a

rear wall and side walls, all of said walls defining external surfaces, said normally exposed surfaces covered by said bag during use of said scoop including said'bottom and side walls.

3. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 2, wherein said clamping means includes a ledge carried by said rear wall, a plate adapted to overlie said ledge and spring means cooperating between said plate and said ledge for releasably biasing said plate into engagement with said ledge.

4. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 3, wherein said spring means includes a pair of handle members.

5. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 3, wherein said trough defining means further includes a scoop closing panel having an exterior surface, and hinge means pivoting said scoop closing panel to said plate, said normally exposed surfaces also including the exterior surface of said scoop closing panel.

6. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 5 and further including lifter means carried by said scoop-like member and operatively engageable with said scoop closing panel for pivoting said scoop closing panel about said hinge means. 

1. A scoop for animal waste comprising trough defining means having a front end and a rear end, clamping means carried by said trough defining means at said rear end, and a disposable bag having an open end and a closed opposite end, said bag opposite end being releasably held by said clamping means, said bag being received in said trough defining means and of a length substantially longer than the length of the trough defining means between said front and rear ends thereof and extending forwardly from said clamping means to said front end of said trough defining means and to be folded rearwardly about said trough defining means for covering normally exposed surfaces thereof during use of said scoop and exposing only the interior surfaces of said bag to the animal waste.
 1. A scoop for animal waste comprising trough defining means having a front end and a rear end, clamping means carried by said trough defining means at said rear end, and a disposable bag having an open end and a closed opposite end, said bag opposite end being releasably held by said clamping means, said bag being received in said trough defining means and of a length substantially longer than the length of the trough defining means between said front and rear ends thereof and extending forwardly from said clamping means to said front end of said trough defining means and to be folded rearwardly about said trough defining means for covering normally exposed surfaces thereof during use of said scoop and exposing only the interior surfaces of said bag to the animal waste.
 2. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 1, wherein said trough defining means includes a generally scoop-like member having a bottom wall, a rear wall and side walls, all of said walls defining external surfaces, said normally exposed surfaces covered by said bag during use of said scoop including said bottom and side walls.
 3. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 2, wherein said clamping means includes a ledge carried by said rear wall, a plate adapted to overlie said ledge and spring means cooperating between said plate and said ledge for releasably biasing said plate into engagement with said ledge.
 4. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 3, wherein said spring means includes a pair of handle members.
 5. A scoop for animal waste as claimed in claim 3, wherein said trough defining means further includes a scoop closing panel having an exterior surface, and hinge means pivoting said scoop closing panel to said plate, said normally exposed surfaces also including the exterior surface of said scoop closing panel. 